South Main Street from Woodward Avenue to the 120 Bypass, without a doubt, is the worst bottleneck in Manteca.

It can be a solid line of  vehicles in both directions on the two-lane road sans sidewalks during the morning rush, the afternoon, and on the weekends.

It also features the heaviest traveled four-way stop in Manteca at Woodward Avenue and Main Street.

That will soon change.

The Manteca City Council when the meet Tuesday at 6 p.m. will be asked to set a public hearing in no less than four weeks to establish an area of benefit.

The area of benefit will establish what various developers and parcels yet to have a project along the stretch propose will pay to ultimately:

*widen the stretch to six lanes.

*install curbs, gutters, and sidewalks.

*install a median.

*widen the eastbound on-ramp to the 120 Bypass.

Meanwhile, a related endeavor that Mayor Gary Singh has been shepherding will see the installment of traffic signals at the corner of Woodward Avenue and Atherton Drive.

Work on the signals is expected to start in the coming months.

The larger project of widening the corridor may or may not start this year, but who will pay for it will be lined up so construction can start.

Manteca wants to avoid South Main from being repeatedly ripped up for road construction via piecemeal projects as development occurs on parcels along the section of the corridor.

By creating an area of benefit, the cost can be assigned and money collected to do the work at once.

In the case of property not participating because they have no viable project at the time, the city’s Public Facilities Improvement Plan (PFIP) fees collected on growth for arterial road construction and infrastructure such as main sewer and main water lines will be used to cover that cost.

The PFIP account will be reimbursed when the property is developed.

Manteca has already placed a condition on three major projects that they have approved along the South Main segment that they pay for their fair share of widening the street.

One of those developers, California Gold Development, wants to start construction on an approved shopping center in the southwest corner of Atherton Drive and Main Street.

The Marketplace at Main has already secured Chipotle’s Kitchen and a McDonald’s for free-standing pads.

The center will have 110,000 square feet of overall retail and dining space.

The other two developers include:

*QMC Manteca that involves building a mixture of 818 housing units — apartments, half-plexes, and free-standing homes primarily on the northeast corner of Atherton and Main.

*SOMA Apartments has an approved 210-unit apartment complex on the southeast corner of the same intersection.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantwcabulletin.com